Ten detained in match-fixing raids across Spain

MADRID (Reuters) - At least ten people were detained on Monday as part of a police operation against match-fixing in Spain’s third (Segunda B) and fourth tier (Tercera), police sources told Reuters.

The investigation is led by a court in Zafra in the autonomous community of Extremadura, and the National Police’s Specialised and Violent Crime unit. However, sources say that arrests have been carried out across the country.

“There’s ten who have been detained and more are expected,” a source who asked to remain anonymous told Reuters. “They were rigging matches for the Chinese betting market.”

This is not the first operation of its kind in Spain. In April last year, a judge from Elda, Valencia, opened disciplinary proceedings against five people for match-fixing involving the local club. While in 2016, the Civil Guard detained 34 people linked to a match-fixing network operating in youth tennis.